The Lemonade Club

Title: The Lemonade Club

Author: Patricia Polacco

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Summary: Two girls, Traci and Marilyn, were best friends who were in the same class at school. They were almost always together. Their teacher, Miss. Wichelman, was loved by all of her students. She made it feel like home, by having a lamp on her desk, framing drawings and artwork, having a rug in the front of the room and she even have a class guinea pig, named Pinky. The reason why everyone liked Miss. Wichelman for fifth grade was that she made every kid in the classroom believe that he or she can be anything they wanted to be. Marilyn loved playing the piano; she took lessons every week and she had a grand piano in her living room. Traci loved to listen to Marilyn practice, but she didn’t know what she wanted to be. All she knew was that it made her feel warm inside to help someone else. Almost every day before the kids left school, Miss. Wichelman would hold up lemons and say, “And if life hands you a lemon or two today, just add water and sugar and what do you have?” The whole class would scream out “Lemonade!” One day after school, the two girls stayed after and helped their teacher hang up Career Day posters. Miss. Wichelman pinned up a picture of a doctor, saying she thought she wanted to be a doctor one day. She said that doctors help your bodies grow up healthy and strong, but teachers help your minds grow wise and full of ideas. On the way home, the girls heard voices behind them saying mean things about Marilyn’s weight and how she was fat. Marilyn said that she would do anything to be thing, so Traci put her arm around her for comfort and the girls finally went down a different street. The rest of the walk was rather silent. Weeks passed and Traci noticed that Marilyn was losing weight. One Wednesday, while the girls were planting flowers, Marilyn collapsed in a heap on the grass. Traci asked her if she was doing some ridiculous diet and Marilyn told her that she wasn’t doing anything, but she was losing weight and she was very tired. Traci got Marilyn’s mom because she knew something was wrong. Marilyn didn’t come back to school from that day on. Her mother had called Traci’s mom and told her what had happened. The next day at school, Miss. Wichelman announced to the class that Marilyn had cancer…leukemia. The kids had mixed reactions-some cried and some were just speechless. Miss. Wichelman said that there was hope because Marilyn would be going through chemotherapy and it would hopefully kill the cancer cells.  A boy in the class, Danny Bridges, asked if Marilyn was ever going to come back. Miss. Wichelman said that she would but she would look very different. She told the class that she wouldn’t have any hair and she might feel sick sometimes. Traci and Miss. Wichelman made daily visits to Marilyn’s house. One day, she started to lose her hair as she was brushing it. From that day on, some days were good and some days weren’t so good for Marilyn. One day, Miss. Wichelman came over and Traci was already there. Miss. Wichelman told the girls that she was engaged and that she wanted them to both be at her wedding in Lemon yellow dresses, but it had to be kept a secret. Her finance’s name is Warren. When Marilyn returned to school, the whole class had a surprise for her. They were all wearing funny hats. When she came into the classroom, she was greeted by everyone and they all pulled off their hats. Everyone was bald! They all shaved their heads for Marilyn, even Miss. Wichelman, but she didn’t seem as cheerful as usual. Marilyn’s cancer was finally disappearing and she finished her last round of chemo. Her hair started to grow back. Traci, Marilyn and Miss. Wichelman soon called themselves “The Lemonade Club” One day, the students realized that Miss. Wichelman didn’t take off her scarf from her head. Bernie Carlisle asked her about it. Miss. Wichelman had cancer, too, but she was going to have to have surgery. The girls made Miss. Wichelman feel better about everything and they together agreed that if you want to do something, you can do it. Years later, Dr. Cynthia Wichelman became the wife of Dr. Warren Gish.

Characters: Traci, Marilyn, Miss. Wichelman

Plot: N/A

Theme: Don’t give up because you can be whatever you want to be and do whatever you want to do

Setting: school,

Opinion: This book was very good. I liked the main idea of it and I thought that it was very inspiring. It had a good storyline and it was definitely realistic so it makes it easy to relate too.